


To begin a New Year with you

by Daydreamisallihave



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Just this two spending new year's eve together and kissing at midnight as i hope they did, happy new year's drabble, kastle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 19:31:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13219668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daydreamisallihave/pseuds/Daydreamisallihave
Summary: Short New Year's  kastle fic, Karen and Frank decide to spend the evening together.





	To begin a New Year with you

**Author's Note:**

> As always, apologize for my English and for any mistakes, it's not my mother tongue.
> 
> And I'm sorry if they are ooc, I'm still not good at capturing characters' essences.
> 
> At any rate, I hope some of you may enjoy this, please let me know, and if you didn't,please be kind, I'm trying my best.  
> I wanted to write something holidays related and this is what I came up with.
> 
> I love this pairing so much!

“So what are you doing tomorrow?”

Karen avoided throwing the term ‘New Year’s Eve’ in her question as she tested the waters. She wasn’t sure herself of what she was going to do. Foggy had this posh party with his co-workers and she was invited to join him, but even though she wanted to see Foggy, she didn’t feel like going, she knew she would feel out of place with that people.

On the other hand, Trish had also invited her to the party she was holding at her place. Jessica Jones was also going, probably along with Luke, Claire, Danny and Colleen.

“Sounds like a vigilante party” Karen had joked, but she was grateful for the invitation. She really wanted to get to know them better and get to be friends. Heaven knew she didn’t have many, and most days she felt very alone in New York.

Of all them, the only one she actually met more regularly was Trish.

 The two women had had lunch together a week ago, and while talking about a story in which they wanted to work together and cover it both in The Bulleting and Trish’s talk show, they also shared their plans for their non-family Christmas.

In Trish case, Christmas’s eve involved drinking in a sleepover with Jessica. In Karen’s case, it involved drinking too, working, and hoping Frank would join her.

He had been all moody all Christmas’ week, talking less with her, getting into more fights. Karen was well aware of why and she hated she couldn’t help him hurt less.

In the end, Frank had gone to her flat on Christmas’ eve, past dinner time, when she was sure he wasn’t going to show up. They had drunk and then drunk more, sharing stories about their childhood Christmas. Eventually, Frank had even shared with her stories of Christmas with his family, and Karen was glad he could smile while talking about them, even if a sad smile.

Frank even spent the night at her place, or more accurately they passed out on her sofa. He had stood around to have lunch with her, left-overs from the night before, but after that, he had left, not before pressing a kiss to Karen’s forehead. She was still regretting she hadn’t stopped him and kissed his lips instead.

They hadn’t seen each other since then until this morning, when Karen had texted Frank to join her for breakfast at their usual café. It was a ritual they have, they met for breakfast at least once a week before Karen had to go to work.

“Criminals are going to be dinning and celebrating, I doubt you’ll have vigilante work.” Karen teased, knowing he hated it when she called him a vigilante, which she did sometimes to tease him, even though deep down she selfishly wished he’d stop doing it and just enjoyed his new free life.

Frank rolled his eyes but gave her half a smile. “You’d be surprised.”

“So that’s how you are going to spend New Year’s eve, chasing criminals?” Karen pressed.

She hadn’t confirmed yet to Trish if she’d attend the party, she had already warned her that she may have something coming up. Karen wasn’t about to leave Frank alone on New Year’s Eve.  And there wasn’t any other person she’d like to celebrate the new year more than with Frank Castle if he also wanted to celebrate it with her.

But she knew she couldn’t bring him to Trish ‘vigilantes’ party. Karen wasn’t going to show up at Trish’s place, with people she didn’t know that well, with the Punisher by her side.

She knew all them may suspect Frank was still alive, certainly they wouldn’t be surprised to know he was, but she wasn’t totally sure of what they thought about him.

Besides, she didn’t want to make Frank go through that.

None knew the extent of her relationship with Frank. Not even Karen was sure of what their relationship actually was. But not Foggy neither Trish knew how involved she was with him. And for now, she wanted to keep it that way. They talked them into it eventually.

“Actually...” Frank shifted awkwardly. “I have a thing...some dinner thing I have to go...”

“Oh,”  Karen blinked, taken totally by surprise.

She was glad Frank had somewhere to go, of course she was, but her heart ached a bit. She knew Frank had other people besides her in his life, other friends, even if they were just a couple. It was just she had hoped, if he was going to actually celebrate the new year, he may want to celebrate it with her too...

“It’s nothing, really.” Frank shrugged. “It’s Curtis’ group, the one I told you I was going tosometimes. He’s hosting a New Year’s Eve party for the group and he asked me very strongly to go.”

Curtis had also held events for Christmas’ eve and Christmas’ day. He had been giving Frank shit for not attending and being a ‘moping asshole’ until Frank had told him, sharing a couple of beers after Curtis’ event was over, that he had been with Karen. Although if he was honest, Frank wasn’t sure if he would have attended anyway.

But it felt wrong missing also the New Year’s event. Frank knew he owed a lot to Curtis, and to the group too. So he was going to try and stop being a ‘moping asshole’.

Curtis had reminded him that he could bring someone with him, just like others were going to do, but Frank had laughed it off. He hadn’t realized until now that maybe Karen didn’t have anything to do. He knew he should have guessed, after Christmas’ eve, but Christmas’ was more of a ‘family festivity’ while New Year’s always was more of a party. Karen was beautiful and young, and Frank had just assumed she had parties to attend.

“That’s really nice, Frank.” Karen gave him a genuine smile. She hadn’t met Curtis yet, but she hoped she eventually would, she wanted to thank him for always been there for Frank and for his group. It was helping him, she knew.

Frank nodded with half a smile but said nothing, focusing his attention on his breakfast eggs.

“So you got a party to attend and you didn’t think about inviting me. That’s rude.” Karen teased. She was sad Frank hadn’t thought about spending New Year’s with her, she couldn’t deny it, but mostly she was just glad he had somewhere to go.

To her surprise, Frank seemed almost embarrassed. “I thought you’d have parties to go... And I didn’t think you would want to spend New Year’s eve with Courtis’ group...it’s not an actual party...”

“Sometimes you are an idiot Frank,” Karen replied, but her voice was soft and she was smiling. “And since you don’t seem to realize it, I don’t care where but I want to celebrate New Year’s with you.” She was blushing but she wasn’t backing down now. “If you want to...”

Frank didn’t reply, he was silent for a couple of seconds and Karen was scared she had overstepped but then he was reaching out his hand over the table to take hers.

“Of course I want to spend New Year’s with you.” He assured her, squeezing her hand. He was grateful for Curtis and for the group, of course he was, but having Karen with him would make the night way, way better. She was right, he was an idiot for not having asked her to go with him. He should have counted on her, just like she counted on him. He should have realized by now that they were part of each other’s life now, at a deep level.

Frank was incredibly grateful for her, for having Karen in his life, in a way he couldn’t quite express with words. Most times, he just resorted to kissing her forehead, her cheek, or holding her hand. To put his arm around her when she silently rested her head on his shoulder and held her close on her sofa, on those evenings he went to visit her feeling like he couldn’t deal with the world anymore. She always had his back.

Karen didn’t seem to mind, she seemed to understand him without words.

“Okay” She replied, smiling and squeezing his hand back.

“Okay.”

 

-

Her doorbell ringed when Karen was finishing packing the pasta dish she was going to bring to the dinner. It was a sort of ‘bring what food you can’ kind of party, and even though she was nothing of a cook, luckily her grandmother had taught her a couple of recipes. Two, exactly.

“In a second.”

She ran to the door and opened the door to find Frank with a pot of his own.

“What’s that?” She asked, sniffing curiously. “It smells delicious.”

“Soup and you are not getting any until we are there.” Frank teased, walking in. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Karen replied. She hadn’t done anything special, not really, just changing her usual work clothes for a dress and putting on some rouge. She turned around, embarrassed when she noticed she was blushing like a schoolgirl. There was no hope on Frank not noticing it, though, because he was moving closer to kiss her cheek.

“Are you ready?” He asked while placing his pot next to hers on the bag and carrying it.

“Yes, let’s get to the party.” Karen took his hand, intertwining her fingers with his and smiling when he didn’t comment on it.

Once there, Frank finally, finally introduced her to Curtis. They thanked each other profusely for taking care of their reckless and stubborn but very deeply loved friend while Frank stood there, mortified.

“You two know I’m right here, right?” He complained, grumbling.

He introduced her to more people of the group, some of them have brought company too, and a couple of them had even come with their families.

 They walked around, eating and drinking, talking with people for a while, but as midnight approached they moved slightly apart from the others, just the two of them, as in a decision they both had taken unconsciously.

“Are you having fun?” Frank asked, casually putting her arm around her waist to hold her close.

“Yes, of course. “ She waved around. “These people are really nice, Frank, I’m glad you have them.”

He hummed his agreement but said nothing more. When Karen’s mobile went off, he frowned, hoping it was not trouble.“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just a friend wishing me a happy new year.” It was Trish, and even though Karen was sad she missed her party, there was no way for her of celebrating New Year’s without Frank.

Attached to the text was a picture of Jessica winning an arm-wrest against Luke while Claire, Danny and Colleen cheered from the sofa.  Karen couldn’t help but laugh. She hoped soon she’d be their friend too. Eventually bring Frank along too.

“That reminds me...” Frank took his own mobile and began to type. “David and Sarah texted me too and I forgot to reply.”

“Rude.” Karen teased, leaning against him.

Frank’s mobile chimed in with another text almost immediately and he huffed, but he was smiling, so Karen deduced it couldn’t be that bad.

“That idiot is saying I’m just making up excuses not to go to their place and I’m brooding alone somewhere,” Frank explained.

“Well, that kind of suits you.” Karen joked. She didn’t miss the smile Frank had when he talked about David, similar to the one he most times wore when he talked about Curtis. It warmed her heart that he had such good friends. She hadn’t met the Lieberman's yet, and she was very curious. They seemed to be good people.

“Wait.” She said when Frank began typing again. “Send him a picture and prove him wrong.”

Frank seemed reluctant but Karen took the mobile herself, pressing the photo button while she leaned to plant a kiss on Frank’s cheek. “There. Don’t forget to send it to me too.”

Frank rolled his eyes but smiled fondly at her.

“You know, they invited me for lunch tomorrow,” Frank told her. The Lieberman had actually invited him for Christmas too, but he had declined. It was a family thing, and although he knew he was welcome, it still felt like intruding. And it was one thing to spend Christmas’ eve with Karen and another thing to do it with a family, with the Lieberman and their kids...he wasn’t sure he was ready for that yet. He had plans for this night, but he hadn’t any real excuse for tomorrow.

“You should go!” Karen smiled at him, and Frank knew she was right. And he wanted to see them again and the kids. He loved those kids.

“Yes, I think you I’ll go. You can come too, with me, you know...if you want...” He suggested.

“I’d loved to.” Karen beamed, excited. “If that’s alright with them.” She was going to meet the Lieberman’s finally! And Frank wanted her to go with him, had asked her...there were the butterflies, doing weird things in her belly again.

“Yeah, they'll be glad to finally meet you,” Frank replied, already writing his answer.

“You two are going to miss the countdown staring at your mobiles.” Curtis chastised teasingly from near them.

He was right, there were only a couple of minutes before the countdown.

“Karen, I know that I haven’t said it, but I hope you know how important you are to me,” Frank began, his hands on her waist. “And I’m grateful for having you in my life and I hope you are still in it this next year.”

Karen found herself at loss of words and embarrassingly close to tears. Of course she knew she was important to him, and she hoped he knew how important he was for her too. How grateful she also was he was in her life. She wanted to say something but emotion seemed to be choking her. Frank seemed to get it, though, because he smiled and held her close.

“Frank I...I know, and there couldn’t be a better way for me to start this new year than with you.” She was finally able to reply, when the countdown had already begun. “And you better kiss me when the countdown ends.”

He did, gentle lips against hers, hands framing her face, pulling her close. She had been waiting for this for so long, and he could feel he had been too. Now they didn’t want to stop. The sound of people cheering brought them back to reality. Their lips parted but they didn’t let go of each other.

“Happy New Year, couple.” Curtis told them, smiling.

They spend the next hour celebrating with the people of the group and their friends and family, drinking, holding each other and exchanging kisses, having more fun than either of them had had in a while. Feeling better, lighter, warmer than Frank had felt in a long, long while.

“Let’s go home, okay?” Karen eventually suggested. She was having fun but she wanted Frank to herself, wanted to start the year alone with him.

Frank smiled, taking her hand leaning for another kiss.

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if the end was a bit abrupt, at the pace I was writing the new year was going to come before I had finished...same reason why I didn't check for mistakes as much as I should.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked it, and thank you for reading!


End file.
